Birdbrain

A passenger walks to board an American Airlines airplane at Miami International airport in Miami, Florida November 29, 2011.

An elderly Miami man reportedly tried to smuggle 16 birds — Negritos de Cuba, or Cuban bullfinches — into the U.S. from Havana by sewing them into his pants so that he could sell them in the states. Authorities discovered that Alberto Diaz Gonzalez was carrying the birds during a pat-down at Miami International Airport, according to a Dec. 6 press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Gonzalez pled guilty to attempting to import undeclared wildlife. He was sentenced to two years of probation and 120 days in home confinement, according to the details of the Mar. 11 judgment handed down by the Miami division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.